How To Become a Web Developer in 2024: The Beginner's Guide

Masood Fareed @mfareed / 12.25 PM EDT. September 21, 2021

Web Development is one of the fastest-growing careers in 2024, the journey to becoming a web developer requires certain skills and knowledge.

The reason you are here is you must have decided to opt to become a website developer, but you don’t know what it takes to be one. This is going to be an informative read, scan it through the end of this text to get answers to all your queries to get you set up for an exciting career.

What does it take to be a web developer?

• Knowledge of web development fundamentals.

• Thorough know-how of front-end and backend technologies.

• Practice, practice and practice!!!

Let us dig into what are web development fundamentals. These fundamentals include front-end as well as backend technologies. To be precise, one should be aware and well-versed in the following:

• HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the first and foremost language you need to learn. HTML creates the basic structure of a web page.

• Then comes CSS (Cascading Style Sheet), which is like sugar, spice and everything nice to add to the skeleton created with HTML.

• After HTML and CSS, we have JavaScript (JS for short). Do not confuse it with Java (programming language). JS adds interactivity and makes your web pages to be dynamic.

• Along with these, one needs to be aware of jQuery, bootstrap and other JS frameworks. Keep in mind that a single person cannot be proficient or expert in all JS frameworks, hence from here you need to choose your specialization.

The above basic technologies are only for the front end of any website or application. You need to shift your perspective and wear a different thinking hat, especially if you want to be a full-stack web developer.

A full-fledged website or (application) is not just what you see in front of you on the screen. A fully functional website has a lot more to do with it. The website that the world sees is only the design, actual work is done at the backend that provides actual functionalities of a website.

You have a variety of options to choose from backend web development technologies like PHP (and its frameworks), C#, Python, and many other JS platforms that are designated for backend development of any website.

Now let us look into the dynamics of backend web development. Here are some points to remember before starting your learning journey as a web developer.

• Node.js: It is ideal for any kind of project, because of being cross-platform and is open source too. In order to learn to work with node.js, first, you need to be well versed in JavaScript. It caters to small memory limitations by avoiding concurrent threading tasks which is yet another reason for it to be considered an ideal approach.

• Express.js: Express.js is a robust framework of node.js providing all functionalities of Node.js under one framework, making the developer’s work easier. It is flexible and cross-platform too, providing a concise set of features for web as well as mobile application development.

• React Native: React native is a JS framework developed by Facebook Inc. for multiple purposes, among which cross-functional web development is also included. You should keep in mind that React.js and React Native are two different entities in the web development field. React.js is solely designated for the front end whereas React Native is for the backend.

Apart from the development phase, you will need an efficient database. Here are some of the skills you need to be aware of. The basic of any database is SQL (Structured Query Language) which is definitely available in the form of different platforms and frameworks, let us explore some of them.

• MySQL: It is an open-source relational database developed by Oracle corporation. It keeps data organized for a website. It is a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) that uses SQL as its core.

• SQLite: It is somewhat like an RDBMS too, uses SQL as a core too, but does not support some features that are supported by MySQL, but still a significant good choice by many.

When we talk about web development, our discussion is always incomplete if we do not talk about APIs.

Application Programming Interface (API): This is a construct that enables a programmer to perform complex tasks with ease. There can be different APIs for different purposes. The most widely used and accepted is Representational State Transfer (REST) API. It is actually a model that specifies how devices (say client or server) are connected to one another. The REST API controls the flow of HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requests included on most websites.

Are you feeling overwhelmed or excited? or a combination of both? I had both feelings depending on which day you asked me the same question. In summary, designing a website is not enough, you need to learn to control its backend, handle the data stored in its database, and master the control and flow of events that occur on the website and on the World Wide Web.

Web Developer salary scale

Web developer salaries can vary widely depending on factors such as location, experience, skillset, and the specific company or organization. Below is a general salary scale for web developers in the United States, but please keep in mind that these figures can change over time:

1. Entry-Level Web Developer:

   • Salary Range: $50,000 to $75,000 per year

   • Job roles: Junior web developer, front-end developer, back-end developer

2. Mid-Level Web Developer:

   • Salary Range: $75,000 to $100,000 per year

   • Job roles: Web developer, full-stack developer, web application developer

3. Senior Web Developer:

   • Salary Range: $100,000 to $150,000+ per year

   • Job roles: Senior web developer, lead developer, web development team lead

4. Web Development Manager/Director:

   • Salary Range: $120,000 to $150,000+ per year

   • Job roles: Web development manager, director of web development

5. Web Development Consultant/Freelancer:

   • Salary Range: Can vary widely based on experience, projects, and clients.

A little about me: I'm the Lead Web Developer at BusyQA. I joined the company with the goal of training and developing world-class web developers to work in our consulting team. My classes are structured the same way I wrote this blog: front, back, database, api and everything in between. You can click here to join my class. See you on the other side.